The Martian Chronicles

by Ray Bradbury

Ebook, 2013

Library's rating

Library's review

This classic wasn't what I expected, being more a set of interlocking short stories rather than a true narrative novel, but it nonetheless raises some very thoughtful questions about the nature of space exploration, the arrogance required to colonize another planet (with the obvious parallels to
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colonial forays on Earth), and whether humans are incapable of peaceable existence anywhere. For all the high-flying philosophical ideas contained within it, the book is extremely readable and only requires the reader to think as many deep thoughts as he or she can comfortably handle. In the introduction to the edition I read, Bradbury expresses bemusement that The Martian Chronicles has come to be classified as science fiction, since there are no technical whizzbang gizmos and his imagining of what Mars is quite at odds with the scientific reality (for instance, his Martian atmosphere is oxygen-based, though similar to a high-altitude setting). So if you are somewhat sci-fi phobic, fear not. Nothing here will make you feel stupid or regret not paying attention in high-school physics class.
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Description

Fiction. Literature. Science Fiction. Short Stories. HTML: Mars was a distant shore, and the men spread upon it in waves... Each wave different, and each wave stronger. The Martian Chronicles Ray Bradbury is a storyteller without peer, a poet of the possible, and, indisputably, one of America's most beloved authors. In a much celebrated literary career that has spanned six decades, he has produced an astonishing body of work: unforgettable novels, including Fahrenheit 451 and Something Wicked This Way Comes; essays, theatrical works, screenplays and teleplays; The Illustrated Mein, Dandelion Wine, The October Country, and numerous other superb short story collections. But of all the dazzling stars in the vast Bradbury universe, none shines more luminous than these masterful chronicles of Earth's settlement of the fourth world from the sun. Bradbury's Mars is a place of hope, dreams and metaphor-of crystal pillars and fossil seas-where a fine dust settles on the great, empty cities of a silently destroyed civilization. It is here the invaders have come to despoil and commercialize, to grow and to learn -first a trickle, then a torrent, rushing from a world with no future toward a promise of tomorrow. The Earthman conquers Mars ... and then is conquered by it, lulled by dangerous lies of comfort and familiarity, and enchanted by the lingering glamour of an ancient, mysterious native race. Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles is a classic work of twentieth-century literature whose extraordinary power and imagination remain undimmed by time's passage. In connected, chronological stories, a true grandmaster once again enthralls, delights and challenges us with his vision and his heart-starkly and stunningly exposing in brilliant spacelight our strength, our weakness, our folly, and our poignant humanity on a strange and breathtaking world where humanity does not belong..… (more)

Media reviews

"Die Mars-Chroniken" von Ray Bradbury ist ein klassischer Science-Fiction-Roman, der eine Reihe miteinander verbundener Kurzgeschichten enthält, die auf dem Mars spielen. Die Erzählung erstreckt sich über mehrere Jahrzehnte und schildert die Kolonisierung der Menschheit und die Interaktion mit
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den mysteriösen Marsianern. In den Geschichten werden Themen wie Kolonisierung, kulturelle Auseinandersetzungen und die Auswirkungen menschlichen Verhaltens sowohl auf der Erde als auch auf dem Mars behandelt. Bradburys poetische und stimmungsvolle Prosa schildert die Wunder und Fallstricke der Erkundung sowie die Folgen von Missverständnissen zwischen Erdbewohnern und Marsbewohnern. Der Roman reflektiert über Themen wie Krieg, technologischen Fortschritt und die Zerbrechlichkeit von Zivilisationen. Während sich die menschliche Präsenz auf dem Mars entfaltet, sind die Marsianer vom Aussterben bedroht, und ihre uralte Kultur zieht sich wie ein roter Faden durch die Chroniken. "Die Mars-Chroniken" werden für ihren lyrischen Schreibstil, ihren sozialen Kommentar und ihre fantasievolle Darstellung einer Zukunft gefeiert, die Fragen über die Beziehung der Menschheit zu ihrer Umwelt und zu sich selbst aufwirft.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1950
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